Review: 'Luzia' is another high-flying spectacular from Cirque du Soleil

By Iris Fanger/For The Patriot Ledger

Monday

Jul 2, 2018 at 4:31 PMJul 3, 2018 at 5:27 PM

The enduring images from “Luzia,” the latest edition of the fabulous Cirque du Soleil to play Boston, include a girl-butterfly with ever-expanding golden wings, a life-sized silver horse brought to wondrous life by three men beneath its shimmering skin, and a comedian-clown who drops to the stage from the three-story high big top. And that’s not to mention the curtain of rain – real water – that floats in and out as if on cue from Mother Nature to drench the characters below. The surprises come in every size and shape – human, technical and technicolored – to enthrall this reviewer and the 2,500 people in the opening night audience.

Cirque du Soleil has returned with one of the most effective extravaganzas in memory. “Luzia” is spoken and sung totally in Spanish and set in a Mexico that never was. Don’t look for the Mexican Hat Dance here or any of the cliches about our neighbor to the south, except for a brief flurry of straw sombreros thrown on stage.

Although there is a marching mariachi band, the musicians are costumed as fantastic creatures with animal heads and tails that include an armadillo and some dragons. The singer (Majo Cornejo), dressed in a series of elaborate, long gowns topped by fringed shawls, warbles songs reminiscent of the country’s ties to Spain.

But best of all is the imaginative take on the idea of the country, rather than the facts, enhancing the quickly-moving acts by the men and women on the mats, equipment and countless flying trapezes.

Of course, there’s no lack of skilled performers: acrobats and dancers galore, studded with appearances by a strong man (Ugo Laffolay) balancing on high poles (and poking fun at himself), a contortionist (Aleksei Goloborodko) straight from Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not, and a smug juggler (Cylios Pytlak) who is all the more endearing because he drops a few of his pins.

The Clown (Eric Fool Koller), who also acts as master of ceremonies, is genuinely funny, not always the case in circus performances. He’s a gifted mime, managing to use a whistle to cajole the audience into doing his bidding by clapping, tossing around a beach ball, and just plain fooling us. He gets his way with a double take and an impeccable sense of timing.

The creative staff must have been working overtime to produce “Luzia,” especially in bringing the curtain of water onto the stage on cue, but also dividing it up to fall in certain places at certain times and then, even more miraculous, painting the curtain with patterns of light in shapes of flowers, hearts and more. The entire circular stage revolves crossed by a treadmill at the diameter and topped with a series of belts, hooks, lengths of fabric and trapezes that carry in the various artists. The creative team is too large to totally credit here but “Luzia” was directed by Patricia Ruel (with head honchos Guy LaLiberte and Jean-Francois Bouchard in the background), written by Daniele Finzi, original score composed by Simon Carpentier.

Saving the best for the next-to-finale spot, the designer of equipment, Danny Zen, helped no doubt by a resident physicist, devised a pair of high-flying swings that serve as platforms for a troupe of men and women to vault through the heights and — somehow — land safely on the opposite island. The tricks are dare-devil and heart-stopping, almost not to be believed. An earlier number was especially heart-warming. Stephen Brine, a trapeze artist landing in an unexpected locale made friends with a life-sized puppet leopard, despite suspicions on each side.

The overall impression of Cirque du Soleil is the notion of one-world in its geographic representation of artists and creative folks from seemingly every continent. It’s a reminder of how connected we have become to every other person on the globe and how well we could all get along, if only we remember the basic skills and humanity that unite us. Viva la Cirque du Soleil, and thanks for keeping Boston on your itinerary.

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